Been Lettin' Things Slide

I haven't been feeling well lately. I caught a cold which turned into Laryngitis which turned into a lingering cough which just recently began to subside. Between feeling ill and finishing draft 1 copy editing I haven't even been twittering, let alone actually sitting down to write a blog entry. Hopefully that's in the past.

This summer has been marked by injuries for me. Of course I was almost run over by an SUV and bunged up my knee in the process, I think I mentioned that some time ago, but I also fell down a flight of stairs at my friend's place in Toronto. Fortunately I am on the mend and my maligned left leg has regained enough stability that I have started doing Qigong again.

Hold the boat you say, Skeptical Simon, who maligns spiritualism does Qigong?!?

Ok, well let me explain, I practice a form of Qigong called Iron Thread which combines breath control with isodynamic exercise. It is a good workout with meditative qualities that are beneficial. It does, however, involve low stances and puts a fair amount of pressure on the knees and ankles, the two things I injured.

Getting back to the point where I could comfortably do this again was a watermark for my recovery.

Turning to other things, as I alluded to previously I have finished copy editing draft 1 of my novel. Another of my beta-readers has volume 1 while Pam finishes up on volume 2. Once I get Volume 1 back from my beta-reader I will be getting to work on inputting the changes and incorporating beta-reader commentary into the master copy of the book. Then it'll be time to print draft 2 and pass it around to more of my beta-readers.

My planned writer's group seems to be coming to fruition. I have now got 3 serious responses to my adverts. I'm working on trying to arrange a time for the four of us to meet and hash out the structure. I'm very excited. If you are in the London, Canada area and are yourself working on a non-fan fic speculative fiction project and you are interested let me know. You can post a comment here on the blog saying you are interested or you can reach me through facebook; I am reticent to post my email address to the blog at this time but you can find it on the notices posted at every branch of the London Public Library.

In the political world Canada is aflutter with rumours of impending election. Too bad the only party worth voting for doesn't run candidates outside of Quebec. Outside of Canada all eyes are on Honduras.

If you don't know, the situation is this:

The rightful president of Honduras, Zelaya, came from a center-right party. After assuming the presidency his politics shifted strongly to the left due to the crushing poverty that right-wing, pro-business interests had caused for the majority of the Honduran population.

The hammer fell when Zelaya tried to propose a referrendum on whether to hold an assembly to discuss changes to the constitution. The conservative factions lied and claimed Zelaya was trying to extend his term beyond the constitutionally allowed two terms. The conservative supreme court then convicted him without trial and had the military exile him in direct contravention of the very same constitution they claimed to be protecting.

Well, needless to say, every South American state (excepting Colombia if I recall correctly) has opposed this blatantly illegal coup d'etat. Recently Zelaya returned to Honduras and has received shelter in the Brazilian embassy. The response of the Junta? Tear gas the Brazilian embassy.

Disgusting.

Please write to your member of parliament, your congressman, or (for my readers outside of Canada and the USA) your duly elected representative and call on them to act against the band of thugs who overthrew the democratically elected President of Honduras so that they could keep the people poor and the small elite rich.